Remember The Month of September – For Croatia!

While Australian Croatians eagerly await in September the visit from Croatia of several outstanding people in the long-drawn and painful battles for free and democratic Croatia it is to be noted, with profound sadness but also with pride for the courage of Croatian people, that the month of September is marked by fierce battles against the Serb and Yugoslav Army aggressors for freedom and democracy. The aptly named tour of Australia “Croatia Uncensored” is organised by the Association “Croatian Diasporan Voice” and with the collaboration of various Croatian Community Organisations across Australia the tour has all the hallmarks of leaving a decisive footprint on the stage of toilsome efforts still in need of unwavering Croatian people’s dedication, both in Croatia and in the diaspora, if Croatia is to become a just, successful and free of communist heritage country for which rivers of Croatian blood were spilled during the 1990’s war.

Visiting Australia from Croatia in September will be Croatia and worldwide acclaimed Croatian patriots and tireless advocates for a free and truly democratic Croatia from the word “go”. They are retired Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council general Zeljko Glasnovic, Member of the Croatian Parliament for the Croatian Diaspora, Dr. Tomislav Sunic, author, political commentator, former California State University professor and former diplomat of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Josip Jurcevic, acclaimed historian, University Professor in Croatia and author, Igor Vukic, political scientist and scientific researcher into the factual truth of WWII Jasenovac camp and Jakov Sedlar, acclaimed film director who will, during this visit to Australia, hold a World Pre-premiere of his new movie “1918-2018: Hundred Years of Serbian Terror in Croatia (From Karadjordjevic and Pribcevic to Vucic and Pupovac)”.

As significant for the life of progress in achieving a truly functional, free of communist mindset, democracy in Croatia this Australian tour is, it is also a moment that calls upon us all who are of Croatian heritage, especially, to remember the month of September that was when Croatia was burning, ethnically cleansed of Croats and non-Serbs, pillaged and raped – was being murdered and massacred!

It is important to remember the aggressor’s bloody threats and deeds but especially it is important to remember the extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom demonstrated by Croats in the Homeland and in the Diaspora at the time. Here are some of the events that ensued during the month of September as the war of aggression forced Croats into self-preservation captivity.

On 14th September 1991 Marko Babic destroyed 5 Yugoslav Army tanks on Trpinjska Street in Vukovar. During that same month this Croatian veteran lost his parents, who were taken from Vukovar by the Serb aggressor to Bobota village and murdered.

At the same time, as Babic was destroying the aggressor’s tanks and armoured vehicles 150,000 Croats from Vukovar were lined up on Trpinjska Street for forced deportation. In shock, the world watched this tragedy unfolding in the heart of Europe.

The 16th and the 23rd of September 1991 saw an eight-day battle (called the September War) for the town of Sibenik. This was an exceptionally important battle because had the aggressor taken the Sibenik bridge or any other spot along the Adriatic Highway, South Croatia would have ended up torn into several smaller or larger pockets. The public had already got to know the evil Serb leader Ratko Mladic (currently serving ICTY life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes…) who at that time led the 9th Yugoslav Army Corpus. The September War is particularly remembered by the downing of two Jugoslav Army aircraft, which was accompanied by the well-known cry from Croatian forces “Both, both, both have fallen!” (“Obadva, obadva, oba su pala!”). The courage of the Croatian defenders in Sibenik was so enormous and strong that the Serb aggressors were forced to withdraw after eight days of their aggression. This was the first of the great Croatian victories recorded in the Homeland War.

11 Croats killed and 50 wounded in Nova Gradiska in September 1991. The 21st of September 1991 was the saddest day of the war for people of Nova Gradiska. Yugoslav Army airplanes first attacked the toll booths at the highway and then destroyed the town, aiming at vital objects, attempting to break and intimidate all Croatian patriots, civilians and defenders but also to murder all the love and loyalty of the Croatian people for Croatia. They did not succeed.

End of September 1991 saw the evacuation of the hospital in Pakrac – threat to life was immense, Croatian efforts to save lives were remarkable, yet another tragedy – prevented; in the face of so much destruction and civilian lives that had already been lost in Pakrac.

September 1991 saw the beautiful town on Dubrovnik surrounded from the sea by enemy blockades that ended up in the siege of Dubrovnik and the later attempts to destroy it. The siege resulted in the deaths of 194 Croatian military personnel, as well as 88 Croatian civilians.

The town of Drnis and many other Croatian towns saw Croats leaving their towns and villages, being displaced and banished from their homes in September 1991. On 14th September 1991 Yugoslav Army attacked the town of Drnis. On the 16th the Croatian authorities released danger warnings to all Drnis and its surrounding villages and areas. Under that terrible attack and its consequent fear for life the Croatian people of Drnis – the elderly, women, children, the sick… left their homes in search for safer places that could be found in Croatia at that time. There weren’t many!

September 1991 also saw the so-called “Battle for Army Barracks” (Yugoslav Army barracks) when for the first time Croatian forces finally got their hands on some heavy weaponry.

Defending Croatia and its ideals and pursuits for democracy from the communist Yugoslavia might and mindset is far from over. Much work and dedication is still needed to complete the task set during the 1990’s Homeland War.

If you are in Australia between the 14th and the 24th of September 2018 you may wish to join the “Croatian Uncensored” tour and contribute to unity and support. Please visit the http://www.glashrvatske.com.au for tour details. Ina Vukic

The world as with so many countries including the U.K. though they still fail to admit it that democracy has reached the dying embers and the protestors that are hijacked by far-right or other supremacist groups try to use the fight for ‘ free speech ‘ and right to reply … I truly hope and 🙏 for countries like Croatia fighting to retain independence from the EU and keeping democracy alive and as you wrote that so many souls died for God Bless Croatia and its People and Long Live Democracy

Finally!!! I wish I lived in Australia to be able to attend but, finally someone is speaking about not just what happened from 1945 on but, what happened from 1918 on because that is when the terror against the Croatian people started. Let’s not forget that the Serb aggression started even before that, first with their “blue print for a Greater Serbian State” which was written up in the late 1800’s which not only explained where their “borders” were but also how they were going do not only claim those lands but how they were going to deal with the non-Serbs on that land which was simply, “Serbianize or die.” this is pretty much where the term “Catholic Serbs” first came with regards to the Croatian people. But, then the Serbs put in a test run before WWI even started when they started the First Balkan wars trying to claim swaths of Albania as their own as well as I believe Bulgaria. Then came the first Yugoslavia which the Croatian people did not want but were forced into by the British and the French at the end of WWII. The Americans at first were for all the states of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire to decide on their own fates and they had no problem with an independent Croatian State but conceded to the Europeans (The French and the English) to allow what they wanted to do in regards to those States and thus the first Yugoslavia was born and that’s when the terror began and it got so bad that Albert Einstein appealed to the League of Nations for the world to put an end to this terror on the Croatian people by the Serbs. We can go on and on what happened but, its time that someone talk about this and mention this since our leaders in Croatia won’t for some reason. That being said, this should go out to a more broader audience because the world needs to know about the 100 years of Serb terror on the Croatian people as well as other groups in the area such as the Albanians and Macedonians, for example. Non-Croatians should be hearing this and not just us Croatians.

The bit about the Dubrovnik siege–I was reminded of seeing a memorial/exhibit about it at the Doge’s Palace. And the town’s residents taking cover in the medieval walls–amazingly that withstood the bombardment!

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Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Here I will bring to you a variety of topics covering the documented truth about that terrible war that Croatia had to endure during the period between 1991 and 1995 and about Croatian political history that shaped a wonderful nation of people.

Croatian people wanted independence for centuries, just as they had it until the twelfth century but fate was not on their side – others wanted their beautiful land. In late 1980′s the will to break free from Yugoslavia which suffocated freedom and self determination through harsh communist party rule finally bore the desired fruit.

In June 1991 Croatia declared its independence; soon after the aggressive war against Croatia broke out. The struggle of the Croatian people for self-determination was a just one. But I fear genuine justice has not been served as there have been, and there still exist, international covert and overt moves to equate victims with aggressors continue in attempts to change history. Truth often becomes obscured and lost and that is why I have chosen to write this blog, to concentrate on actual events and issues about Croatia – wishing it a bright and freedom-loving future.

It certainly was not easy to come out of the war that was fought on two fronts:

1. On the military front the world’s public has seen the indiscriminate bombardment of Croatian cities, towns and villages from land, sea and air; the destruction of civilian targets including homes, schools, hospitals, churches, factories and cultural monuments; the blockading and destruction of roads, bridges and ports; the blockading of power, water, food and medical supplies. What hasn’t been shown on our television sets is the forced clearing and evacuation of towns and villages, followed by looting, torture, rape and murder carried out by the Serbian forces, who were initially backed by the federal Yugoslav army that was largely constituted by Serb nationals; the transportation of multiple hundreds of innocent Croatian civilians from Croatia into concentration camps Serbia (Begejci, Stajicevo, Sremska Mitrovica... from October 1991, and later (1992) transferred into Serb-held camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Omarska, Keratern, Manjaca, Trnopolje).

2. The second front was the war of political propaganda centred on: misinformation about the rights of minorities in Croatia; portrayal of the Croatian people as Ustasha or Fascists; the representation of the Croatian defence forces as illegal paramilitary units; the representation of the Croatian and Slovenian republics as unreasonable secessionists who are unwilling to negotiate; a regurgitation of distorted facts about World War II.

Indeed Croatia had an absolute right to defend itself and this is often forgotten if not often denied it.

Ina Vukic

Ina has been a tireless volunteer on humanitarian aid and fundraising for victims of war in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially war orphans. From1991 to beginning of 1994 she contributed in lobbying for international recognition of Croatian independence and Croatia’s rights in defending its territory and people from military aggression by Serbian forces. For this dedicated voluntary work Ina was awarded two Medals of Honour by the first president of the Republic of Croatia in 1995 (Commemorative Medal of the Homeland War and Order of the Croatian Trefoil).Ina has also written hundreds articles for newspapers in Australia and Croatia on the plight of Croatian people for freedom and self-determination, developing democracy in former communist countries. She holds two graduate and one post-graduate university degrees, specialising in behaviour, clinical and political psychology and management.

Blessed Aloysius Stepinac quote:

“When they take everything from you, you’ll be left with two hands; put them together in prayer and then you’ll be the strongest.” Blessed Aloysius Stepinac (1898 – 1960)

First President of Croatia Dr Franjo Tudjman quote:

“They could not, nor will they ever be able to kill our passion and our need to live in human dignity, in peace with ourselves and with the free nations of Europe. We have carved out that right at our first democratic elections. For this right and for our sacred land we are even ready to die” – Dr Franjo Tudjman (1922-1999) ( Addressing the Croatian nation at the moment of the start of Serbian aggression against Croatia, 16 October 1991)

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